A Thing of Eternity wrote:If the defendant is found innocent they are torn limb from limb is what I remember, but if they're found guilty they get some lesser sentence. I never have figured out why, and what FH was trying to tell us with that.

Hm, it's not that difficult. In Gowachin court, the law is on trial, not the defendant. If a defendant is found to be guilty, then clearly the law is wrong, necessitating a major change in Gowachin society.

This way, the Gowachin avoid the buildup of silly historical laws (example here). It's not altogether different from a common law court overruling precedent, but taken to much greater extremes. (Also, common law jurisdictions are infamous for acquiring mountains of legal legacy over time, the exact thing the Gowachin want to avoid).

The lawyers' lives are on the line precisely to avoid either of them from being too complacent in pushing the argument.

In the classical times of several species, it was thecustom of the powerful to nudge the power-counters (money or other economic tabulators,status points, etc.) into occasional violentperturbations from which the knowledgeablefew profited. Human accounts of this experi-ence reveal edifying examples of this behavior(for which, see Appendix G). Only the PanSpe-chi appear to have avoided this phenomenon,possibly because of crèche slavery.

- Comparative History, The BuSab Text

"Governments always commit their entire popula-tions when the demands grow heavy enough. By theirpassive acceptance, these populations become accesso-ries to whatever is done in their name."

The hoary traditions of Gowachin Law - The guilty are innocent.Governments always do evil. Legalists put their own interestsfirst. Defense and prosecution are brother and sister. Suspecteverything.

my favorite book after God Emperor

I sure would like access to all the research material franks characters are allows alluding to...